Fri, 09 Dec 2011

Propaganda is propaganda and fabrications are fabrications. The blogosphere has come alive with claims DoD and the White House labeled the Fort Hood Massacre simple workplace violence. Normally, I would be very quick to jump on this bandwagon of apparent political correctness run amok. As it turns out, however, this is a politically-motivated twisting facts to create a sound bite by the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees.

MR. STOCKTON: Sir, with great respect, I don’t believe it’s helpful to frame our adversary as Islamic with any set of qualifiers that we might add, because we are not at war with Islam.

While homegrown, self-radicalized jihadists are certainly a concern, they’re not the only ones who kill servicemembers or their families. The January 2010 Department of Defense report, Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood, took a holistic approach. The report identified DoD’s need to improve its posture concerning all types of internal threats—what civilian organizations call “workplace violence”—not just al Qaeda wannabes. Defense Secretary Robert Gates directed the military to implement Fort Hood recommendations in August 2010. His memorandum referenced both workplace violence and force protection.

It is interesting to note the Pentagon’s report on the Fort Hood shootings never once mentions radical Islamists and only uses the word “terrorist” in the context of muti-agency information sharing and expanding current Army force protection training. It does refer to “workplace violence” in several recommendations, however. How is it that wasn’t a problem almost 2 years ago when the report came out but it is now? Could it be, oh, I don’t know, election season?

Sun, 13 Nov 2011

Ever since US-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a Predator drone strike on 30 September 2011, there’s been a hue and cry from the vocal minority of “due processors” calling al-Awlaki’s killing an unlawful assassination. Folks, this is not rocket science. Al-Awlaki is as much a terrorist and enemy combatant as if he’d been one of the 9/11 hijackers. Citizenship and birthplace have nothing to do with it, whatsoever.

I do not like Newt Gingrich and have not since he was Speaker of the House. Maybe it’s something to do with that position; perhaps not unlike “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Nonetheless, Gingrich clearly articulated the legality of al-Awlaki’s killing during yesterday’s debate of Republican presidential candidates.

Waging war on the United States is outside criminal law; it is an act of war, and it should be dealt with as an act of war, and the correct thing in an act of war is to kill people who are trying to kill you.

We [Sharpton and his show] are here today because we agree 1% should not be controlling the [nation’s] wealth. These [demonstrators] are regular people trying to feed their families, trying to pay their rent and mortgages, trying to survive.

Russell Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam hip-hop record label, joined Rev. Sharpton for his radio broadcast from Zuccotti Park. Simmons, reputedly worth $500 million, is not a regular guy, either. Sharpton has a TV show, too. Why not put Occupy Wall Street on his TV show? As the Gothamist put it, “Is he saying that the protesters have faces for radio?”

If Herman Cain were to come on my show radio or TV, I would say to him how could anyone in their right mind that grew up in the South and saw what they saw, or stand up there and act like anybody and that is unemployed and that is not rich did it to themselves starting with your momma. I could have understood someone with Barack Obama’s background having that kind of confusion. So, I would only assume that he is either socially ignorant or playing games to get votes. Cause he couldn’t possibly have grown up and come to that conclusion unless he was one or the other.

Politics is full of opportunists and there’s certainly no shortage of people weighing in on the Wisconsin budget protests in Madison. The main stream media has become complicit in the rallying cry this is about preventing Gov. Scott Walker (R) from union busting. As a result, people and the media liken the Madison protests to those in Egypt. The reality is the budget repair bill limits public employee unions to wage increases tied to the Consumer Price Index. Unions can still bargain for higher raises, but the bill calls for those to be approved in a referendum before the people.

It’s no secret unions back Democrats and, not surprisingly, Democratic politicians tend to be pro-union. Thus, Pres. Obama has decried Walker’s blatant attempt to disempower workers. Never one to miss an opportunity to be a famewhore, Rev. Jesse Jackson descended on Madison to demonstrate his solidarity with the embattled workers.

Forty-nine million Americans are in poverty, 44 million are on food stamps, we give the wealthiest Americans tax cuts at Christmas time, and now lay off public workers. It’s not right, the workers ought fight back, and they are fighting back…That spirit of fighting back to close the north-south gap between the surplus culture and the suffering culture.

Jackson’s co-opportunist, Rev. Al Sharpton joined the labor movement under attack set, as well. Besides efforts to dimish public unions’ collective bargaining rights, Sharpton decries the detrimental effect on take-home pay the budget repair bill includes. Key elements elements at issue is the increase in pension contributions to 5.8% and in health insurance premiums to 12.6% for state employees.

Another unfair burden Sharpton takes exception to is the higher health insurance premium costs Wisconsin workers may have to pay. But wait. According to the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US workers pay 26.7% in health care premiums, more than double the 12.% proposed for state workers. Am I missing how downtrodden these guys are? They sure don’t seem to be just a step away from Jackson’s references to those in poverty and on food stamps.

Regarding public employee layoffs, Gov. Walker promised no furloughs and no lay off for 6,000 state workers if the bill passes. The only ones not working right now are those who are protesting, most of whom are teachers. Wisconsin teacher salaries average $77,718, nearly $24,000 more than the average of $53,724 for workers in Milwaukee. In 2009, the average statewide salary in Wisconsin was just over half that of the teachers: $38,500.

Sharpton, Jackson, and Obama have not come out in behalf of the downtrodden or even union rights. They participate in fomenting an issue to keep the working people of the suffering culture in their place. Sustainability is irrelevant.

Like this:

Sat, 01 Jan 2011

Michigan’s Lake Superior State University releases a list of banished words each year. The list started during a New Year’s Eve party in 1975. Since then it has been an annual effort to banish words and phrases from the Queen’s English for misuse, overuse, and general uselessness.

This year, the list seems focused on how we communicate and use social networks.

In a busy U.S. election year, “the American People” told LSSU they were tired of not only “refudiate,” but also “mama grizzlies” who wanted their opponents to “man up.”

The List of banished Words is developed from reader submissions. Here are the 2011 banished words and phrases.

Viral—something that has spread like wildfire on the Internet

Epic—”Standards for using ‘epic’ are so low, even ‘awesome’ is embarrassed.” Mike of Kettering, OH

Fail—pretty much any mistake someone could make, whether significant or not

The American People—a political reference intended to include all citizens as if we all held the same opinion

I’m just saying—a phrase used to diffuse any ill feelings caused by a preceded remark

Facebook/Google as verbs—Excuse me? I’ve long held if you can’t find it on Google and can’t learn about it on Wikipedia, it’s not worth knowing about. And if I can’t Facebook with my friends, there’s no point in getting up in the morning.

Live life to the fullest—First, things are full or they’re not; there is no fullest. Second, ‘live life’ is redundant

Does this cause anyone else to wonder how we’re going to communicate with each other this year?

Like this:

Fri, 25 Sep 2009

Detroit is the cover story of Time magazine’s October 5th issue. In fact, the city is the subject of a year-long project Time calls Assignment: Detroit. The magazine’s bought a house and already has a dozen or more stories on it’s website. Web reporters from time.com, cnnmoney.com, and si.com are participating, as are journalists from Fortune and Money.

Why such focused media attention on the D? Time says “Detroit has been misunderstood, underreported, stereotyped, avoided and exploited for decades.” They believe the Motor City’s rise, fall, and struggle to come back are representative of America’s challenges. They claim they “want Detroit to recover and find its way into the future.”

But, if that’s the case, why is Time‘s cover picture of the Packard plant, closed since 1956? How about the downtown skyline or maybe the stadium district for a positive spin?

The two girls in front of us were drunk before the game started. They grabbed one of our signs and trashed it (real classy) because were Vikings fans, and then spent most of the first half mocking us instead of watching the game because the Lions were ahead.

They left their seats and we thought they were gone for good but somehow they managed to buy even more beer and get back to their seats. They were spilling beer on themselves, the seats, and some of the other fans. After they spilled quite a bit of beer on the guys in the row below them, they turned around and told them to SIT DOWN. One girl didnt like that so she poured the rest of her beer on his head. Then I knew it was time to start the camera 🙂

So, will Time paint a positive portrait of Motown? “[W]e do not intend to be cheerleaders or apologists,” they say. But will they be honest? They will find Detroit is a gritty city and, as Ernie Harwell said, its people have grit. Let’s see which side of Detroit Time showcases.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009

For a lot of folks who grew up in Michigan, Ernie Harwell was the voice of baseball! He was always smooth and never at a loss for words. He’s truly in the Hall of Fame of baseball’s great announcers. At last night’s game, the Tigers paid tribute to their play-by-play legend.

As Ernie took to the field, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd, his remarks were eloquent as always! Thanks, Ernie, for being part of what makes Michigan—and Detroit—great!

Remember how the media conspired to hide the capture of New York Times reported [sic] David Rohde by the Taliban? We were told the media did the right thing to deliberately not report on his capture in order to ensure the reporter’s safety and not allow the Taliban to use the media to manipulate the narrative.

Today, it has been reported that an American soldier has gone missing in eastern Afghanistan. Unsurprisingly, just about every media outlet has run a major story on the capture, and if they haven’t, they will do so shortly. You can bet that when the soldier’s name is revealed, we’ll be bombarded with interviews of his family and any images or videos released by the Taliban.

The obvious question is why is it prudent to hide Rohde’s kidnapping yet splash the headlines with the capture of a U.S. soldier? The answer is that the media views itself as being above the fray in America’s wars. In their eyes, they’re a neutral party, not part of the story, so they can remove themselves from the story when they wish. And the funny thing is they re-insert themselves back in the story when it makes them look good, like this feel-good piece on David Rohde’s triumphant return to the New York Times newsroom.

—Bill Roggio

I’m certainly glad David Rohde got home safe and unharmed and I truly feel for the 8 months of anguish his family, and he, went through. But, he’s treated—and brandished—as a celebrity the very day after a US Soldier went missing in Afghanistan. That makes me sick.